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The overloaded one-day calendar just became even fuller, with news that three of the game’s key superpowers – Australia, India and Pakistan – will stop off in the Netherlands on their way to this year’s Champions Trophy in England.Each side will play each other once with the top two sides going through to a final. The tournament will reportedly run from August 22-29, coinciding with the Athens Olympics.In 25 years of tri-nation one-day tournaments it will be only the second time these three countries have faced off in a triangular tournament. In their previous three-way encounter, the Carlton & United Series of 1999-2000, Australia won nine straight matches.It will be the first multi-nation series to take place in the Netherlands, who staged one World Cup game in 1999.A Cricket Australia spokesman could not confirm the dates but said the Australians are scheduled to arrive in Holland on August 20. The 12-nation Champions Trophy begins on September 10.The Australians have already played 17 one-day internationals this year, more than India (15) and Pakistan (10). The new, as yet unnamed, tournament means they are so far scheduled to play a possible 28 ODIs in 2004 – down from 35 last year and their 1999 peak of 37. But it’s only May.

Tickets
Tickets for the tournament will be available from June 22 through the Dutch agency Top Ticket Line. Book through their website, www.topticketline.nl (beware: it’s in Dutch), telephone (+31) 20 2061084, or write to Topticketline, PO Box 12850, 1100 AW Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Mumbai stormed into the Ranji Trophy Elite Group final on Sunday after yet another sorry capitulation by Baroda’s batsmen. The 34-time Ranji champions bundled out their opponents for 122 in their second essay to complete an innings and 138 runs victory at the Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation Ground, Vadodara.Baroda, who began the day needing another 244 runs to make Mumbai bat again, lost their second wicket after the addition of just 20 runs to the overnight total of 16 for 1. Two more wickets quickly followed as the hosts were reduced to 40 for four.Then came the only meaningful partnership of the day with Rakesh Solanki (38) and Ajit Bhoite (19) putting on 50 runs for the fifth wicket. But once Bhoite fell to leg-spinner Sairaj Bahatule, the steady procession of batsmen resumed. Bahatule went on to claim a further four wickets, including that of last man Zaheer Khan, to end up with flattering figures of 5 for 21 in 13.2 overs.Mumbai now await the winner of the other semi-final between Tamil Nadu and Delhi, being played at Feroz Shah Kotla.

The present reported unrest in parts of Zimbabwe has received wide coverage by local and international press and various agencies around the world are calling for the possible cancellation of the above tours.The Zimbabwe Cricket Union has discussed the above tours with the management of the United Cricket Board of South Africa and the England and Wales Cricket Board, and we believe there is no good reason why these tours should not continue as scheduled, and further more we are of the view that there is no risk to our visitors in visiting Zimbabwe to play matches in Harare and Bulawayo.Adequate security has been part and parcel of all visiting teams to Zimbabwe and this will be no different for the forthcoming tours.The Union is monitoring the situation on a regular basis and will continue to advise the boards of South Africa and England on the latest situation. Both the UCBSA and ECB have confirmed that these tours will take place at present, and senior administrative officials from both countries have also confirmed their acceptance of invitations from our Union to visit during these respective tours.The streets of Harare and Bulawayo remain some of the safest in the world. The information received from the Central Statistical Office indicates that in the five months to May 2001, some 635,000 tourists have visited Zimbabwe from destinations throughout the world, which numbers include no less than 244 000 from South Africa and 43 000 from the United Kingdom/Ireland in the same period under review.The Zimbabwe Cricket Union is consistent in it’s policy of ensuring for the safety of our visitors, and this policy will be followed regarding the tours by South Africa and England to Zimbabwe in September and October of this year.

Hosts Goa lived to fight another day in their South Zone Ranji Trophyencounter against Andhra at Margao on Saturday. After Andhra declaredat their overnight 514/5, presumably satisfied by a handsome lead of351, the hosts progressed to 249/5 before stumps were drawn. The pickof the batsmen was Goa import Tanveer Jabbar who made 94 before beingrun out in the final session of the day.Goa were in troubled waters at lunch, going into the break at 87/3.The top three in the batting order, Messrs. Rane, Kolankar andAmonkar, all fell in their twenties, failing to push for a big scoreafter getting their eye in. Jabbar and Sagun Kamat gave Goa somesolace, batting through the post-lunch session. Their 110 run standwas finally broken when Kamat gave off spinner YS Ranganath his thirdwicket of the innings.Jabbar found another dependable partner in Anant Bhagwat, the pairadding 51 before the former fell just 15 balls before the curtain wasbrought down. His 94 had come off 174 balls and included 11boundaries. Bhagwat who made a brisk unbeaten 41, negotiated Goathrough to close of play in the company of skipper Pravin Amre on whommuch will depend if the hosts are to provide any semblance ofresistance on Sunday.

Match facts

Sunday, April 20, 2008
Start time 20:00 local, (14:30 GMT)

The Big Picture

This could well be a game where both guests and hosts are likely to play the more traditional cricket than the hard-hitting stuff that has been evident so far. The Mumbai Indians and the Bangalore Royal Challengers both have batsmen who prefer finesse to powerplay. Mumbai not only represent the IPL’s richest franchise but also possess two batsmen – Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya – who have between them played more than 800 ODIs and piled up 28671 runs. However, Mumbai’s middle and lower order, apart from Shaun Pollock, comprise local and untried international talent. They will also miss the pace of Lasith Malinga, absent due to injury, and will have to rely on Dilhara Fernando and Pollock.

Watch out for …

Tendulkar who, if he recovers from his groin injury – indications are that he will – can inspire his team to take the fight to the opposition. As he showed during the two back-to-back finals in the CB Series, he can still make bowlers bow. Then there is the ferocity of the aging, but still dangerous, Jayasuriya, who could just provide the impetus in which this short format.

Team news

Tendulkar’s groin injury remains a concern and the final decision will be taken by the physio on Sunday morning. A squad of 27 was pruned to 17 but Mumbai will have to wait till the second game for the services of Dwayne Bravo, who arrives on Sunday. Fernando might partner Pollock with the new ball with a support cast of Abhishek Nayar and fast bowler Dhaval Kulkarni or the allrounder Musaveer Khote. But Harbhajan might prove to the thorn for Bangalore with his experience in playing the restrictive hand in ODIs as well as Twenty20 games in the past.Mumbai (likely) 1 Sachin Tendulkar (capt), 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Robin Uthappa, 5 Saurabh Tiwary, 6 Luke Ronchi (wk), 7 Shaun Pollock, 8 Abhishek Nayar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Dilhara Fernando, 11 Dhaval Kulkarni/Musaveer KhoteAfter a classic faux pas in the opening game Bangalore are likely to open with Shivnarine Chanderpaul instead of Dravid and Wasim Jaffer, a pairing more suitable for the longer form of the game. Dravid confirmed Anil Kumble wouldn’t be available for the match, as he is still recovering from his groin injury. Ashley Noffke, the Australian fast bowler, will miss out after suffering a groin injury in the first game where he had figures of 1 for 40. That might allow B Akhil to hold on to his spot .Bangalore (likely) 1 Rahul Dravid (capt), 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Wasim Jaffer, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Virat Kohli, 6 Cameron White, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 B Akhil, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Sunil Joshi

Stats and trivia

A report in today’s London Times has backed claims at the weekend that a Home Office pathologist has concluded Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not murdered.Reports from the post-mortem, photographs and other material have been examined by Dr Nat Carey, the pathologist who examined the bodies in the Soham murder case.The original post-mortem, carried out in Jamaica, decided that strangulation was possible because a bone on Woolmer’s neck had been broken.Police are reported to be waiting for the results of a toxicology report after traces of a herbicide were found in Woolmer’s body. The chemical is sometimes used on cricket pitches as a weedkiller, and one theory is that he might have accidentally ingested it. The report will show if the level of the toxin were suspiciously high or whether they could have built up over a period of time.The Times noted that the herbicide can cause sickness and diarrhea, both of which Woolmer suffered on the night he died. The broken bone could have been the result of a fall as he collapsed in his hotel bathroom.The report also claimed that the possibility that he was attacked by a disgruntled fan or player have been ruled out.There were also criticisms of the handling of the investigation by the Jamaica police, with delays in retrieving and examining the CCTV, a failure to take swabs from Woolmer’s hands and body, and the fact that the body was embalmed within hours of the post mortem.The Jamaica Gleaner published a hard-hitting editorial on Tuesday in which the local police were openly slammed. “The now-it-is-now-it-isn’t spectacle being played out in the international media over Woolmer’s death must be particularly upsetting to his family and makes Jamaica’s constabulary appear a bunch of incompetent boobs. It couldn’t hurt the investigation, we feel, to publish the pathology report so as to clear the air. There should also be some official statement why the scheduled coroner’s inquest appears to have been postponed indefinitely.”

Michael Vaughan is set to make his long-awaited return to competitive cricket when he turns out for Yorkshire this week. He will either play in their C&G Trophy match against Scotland on Monday or in the Championship game against Hampshire which starts on Wednesday.Vaughan, who has not played since making a brief appearance in a tour match in India three months ago, underwent surgery on his right knee in December, and has battled to return to fitness ever since.On Friday, Yorkshire physio Wayne Morton said Vaughan was “ahead of schedule” in his rehabilitation and working “extremely hard” on his recovery.In today’s Independent on Sunday, Vaughan admitted that he realised the need for him to return sooner rather than later. “Hopefully I’ll be back soon leading the team. That’s the one thing that scares me most, that I won’t get the opportunity to do that again. I would like to think that the team would allow me to come back and be their leader if I get fit again, whether it’s this week, two weeks, four weeks. I’d like to think I’d done enough to get another opportunity if I come back. That is the most important thing.”Andrew Flintoff, who has led England in Vaughan’s absence, welcomed the announcement. “It’s great news,” he grinned. “We want Vaughany back in the side as soon as possible.”Many have privately started saying that Vaughan was finished, but he was at pains to stress that was premature. “I can understand people writing what they have because we hadn’t got to the bottom of it. Now we have. It could take quite a bit longer. People have got to be patient, but next time I play cricket, it will be the right time.”It seems that much more will be known by this time next week.

Scorecard
The Roses match continued to be a closely fought occasion as both sides enjoyed moments of supremacy on the second day. Phil Jaques was the star of the day, striking an imperious 97 from 118 balls, with all his runs coming in the morning session, but he edged to Dominic Cork at second slip shortly after the interval. Lancashire had struck two early blows, with Matthew Wood being freakishly run out, via a rebound off Iain Sutcliffe at silly mid-off, as Wood backed-up too far at the non-strikers end. Glen Chapple had Anthony McGrath taken at second slip before Jaques and Lumb added 83 for the third wicket. Lumb’s 68 was his first half-century of a lean season but Lancashire continued to work away at the Yorkshire batting order. However, Craig White remained unbeaten at the close and he will be vital on the third day as Yorkshire aim to get as close to Lancashire’s 379 as possible.
Scorecard
Ben Smith struck a fluent century as Worcestershire made a strong reply to Somerset’s 408 at Bath. He built on some solid work from Stephen Moore and Graeme Hick who put on 105 for the second wicket, after Steven Davies had edged Andrew Caddick to Graeme Smith slip early on. Hick also fell to Caddick, for 55, and Moore was out 14 short of his century but Smith was already into his stride. Zander de Bruyn offered valuable support with 30 and Gareth Batty guided Worcestershire to the close with Smith. However, Batty will not be able to resume his innings in the morning as he will have joined up with England’s one-day squad. Worcestershire will be allowed a full-playing substitute. Matthew Wood, earlier, guided Somerset to a full hand of batting points in the morning session, as he was last-man out for 127.1st day
Scorecard
Durham made the most of batting first to set up a strong position in their top-of-the-table clash against Essex at Chester-le-Street. Gordon Muchall hit 123 and Dale Benkenstein, the stand-in captain while Mike Hussey is with the Australian’s, was unbeaten on 91 at the close. They added 167 for the fourth wicket, then Gareth Breese weighed in with 60 to further boost the Durham total. Essex had managed to make some early inroads into the Durham batting, with Dale Steyn removing John Lewis and Andre Adams getting the better of Nicky Peng. However, their attack has been weakened by injury and international call-ups – Darren Gough (England), Alex Tudor and Graham Napier were missing – and the support bowling couldn’t maintain the pressure. Mervyn Westfield, a 17-year-old fast-medium bowler, had a particularly tough debut as his 13 overs cost 67, while Nick Thornicroft, on loan from Yorkshire, failed to make an impression.

A jubilant Michael Vaughan – and a downcast Brian Lara – faced the press after England’s seven-wicket victory at Port-of-Spain:

Michael Vaughan
On the match
We expected to win, but to be 2-0 up after two Tests is way beyond what we thought. It’s taken a hell of a lot of hard work to get in this position. It hasn’t been easy. We came through some tough periods – Butch and Nasser’s partnership was crucial to our victory. I think the cloud cover on the first two days helped both sets of bowlers, but Steve Harmison’s spell was a gem and Simon Jones’s was fantastic. It’s great having them both in the side, with a different bowler to fall back on. But both games could have gone either way. It’s important that we don’t get too complacent, we know West Indies will fight back.On the bowlers
I thought Steve Harmison bowled brilliantly at the end of last summer against South Africa at The Oval. He’s a real threat – just ask the Aussies, they’ve always said he’s a hard bowler to face. He’s swinging the ball now, and putting it in the right area. He’s worked hard for two months and it shows. But don’t forget Matthew Hoggard. He’s done a fantastic job. We’ve asked him to do a role, and he’s kept things tight with good swing and bounce. Simon Jones is not the finished product, so we need to treat him with care. It’s important we keep all the guys fit. They’re all keen and eager to learn and improve as well. Steve wasn’t happy with the way he bowled after the first morning, so he was straight onto the computer seeing where he went wrong and how he could improve. To me, that’s the sign of a focussed player.On his own form
I feel fine. I’m hitting the ball OK, I feel in good nick. I got a good ball in the first innings and got out in the second, but that’s part of the game. I’m sure a big score is just around the corner.Brian Lara
On the series
It’s still there, we can still level it. We need to learn not to make the same mistakes again. If we had taken advantage of certain situations then it could have been different, it’s not fair to say we’ve been dominated. We’ve lost one or two sessions, and that has cost us dearly. The senior batsmen are not producing. That is where the team needs to get its impetus from, like the English team does with Hussain, Butcher and Thorpe. We’ve got to perform better than that. The team are trying their best. They’re embarrassed and disappointed in our performance. The entire team know they’re not performing. We need to so some soul-searching. We had some discussions and a long meeting last night on how to get things right.On his own form
There’s no excuse for my batting. I’ll get back to the nets. I need to keep my head a little more still and not shuffle across my crease as much. But it’s a situation I’ve been in before, and one I’ve climbed out of.On the team’s batting
So far, we’ve been having problems between Nos. 3 to 5 in the order … we’ve been falling apart quickly. Ridley’s [Jacobs] managed to repair some of the damage, so we thought we’d give him the opportunity to bat with us rather than the bowlers. It almost worked, and I have to commend his performance. He set upthe platform, but myself and Dwayne [Smith] could not use that opportunity.On the way ahead
There are still positives in the team. We have to take responsibility and go forward from here. We’re not putting the entire game together. The England players are putting their entire game together and that is what we need to do.

TINO BEST hasn’t become down-spirited as a result of a few dangerous, full-pitched deliveries in what has been an otherwise impressive performance in the 2003 Carib Beer Series.The exciting Barbadian fast bowler’s 23 wickets are the second highest and his average of 16.86 is the second best among bowlers with more than ten wickets in the competition.His season has, however, been spoilt somewhat by two instances in which umpires have ordered that he be removed from the attack for delivering two deliveries over the level of the batsman’s waist in quick succession."I consider myself a fighter. I know one or two people might be disappointed, but that is cricket, that is life," Best said yesterday ahead of Barbados’ sixth-round match against the Leeward Islands, starting today at Kensington Oval."I think I have performed reasonably well for Barbados. Every time I have a bad day, I just think of good days and I get through it. I am just going to keep working hard."During Barbados’ third round match against Jamaica on February 16 at the North Stars Club ground in Crab Hill, St Lucy, Best was stopped from bowling for the remainder of the innings after sending down two over-pitched balls to Robert Samuels and Mario Ventura in consecutive overs.The 21-year-old suffered a similar fate at Kensington Oval last weekend when two similar-type balls went to Trinidad and Tobago last man, Mukesh Persad.He has, however, apologised to both teams for the unfortunate incidents."I was trying for too much pace. I was just trying to finish the innings as quickly as possible," Best said. "I was trying to bowl a yorker. People always tell me that with my pace, if I can get a yorker going, I would be devastating. The balls just slipped."I try hard. Any time I play for Barbados, I put in 180 per cent all the time, no matter what situation we are in. Sometimes you try too hard and things happen."Best reckons it is a fault that can be easily corrected.Hendy Wallace, a knowledgeable seasoned professional in Ireland who has been working with Barbados’ fast bowlers in the nets in the last few days, is trying to help him overcome the problem."He was saying that when I am about to deliver the ball, my bowling arm was going away from my body and sometimes the ball comes out at the back of my hand. That is really horrible for a fast bowler," Best said."He is trying to get me come a bit straighter. I just hope that everything works out well for me."Best comes throughThose incidents aside, Best has done everything captain Courtney Browne has asked of him this season.He has consistently bowled at good pace, even on an Albion pitch in Berbice that hardly encourages fast bowlers."It all has to do with team work and captaincy. I think Courtney has bowled me beautifully," said Best, who has described Jamaican pacerJermaine Lawson as one of his biggest role models."I am just running in, putting my head down and trying to bowl as fast as possible. I’m just trying to carry out my captain’s instructions."Very often, Browne has used him for short bursts, something he appreciates very much."As a young fast bowler, just because you are quick, it does not mean you should bowl ten overs on the trot," Best said."Sometimes Courtney gives me three overs, then three, then four. Every time I come back, I am fresh and I am bowling quicker and quicker. It has really helped me to bowl better and not get too carried away."Wherever Best has bowled, be it Kensington, Albion, North Stars or Sabina Park, he has had tongues wagging because if his raw pace. But for him, it is not a priority to generate excitement among spectators."I don’t set out to please the crowd. I set out to please Barbados’ cricket," he said.Prior to the start of the season, he set himself a goal of 30 wickets. With the possibility of Barbados having another four matches, the confident youngster has revised the figure."If we do go to the finals, which would be a very good achievement, I think I’ll be looking for about 45 to 50 wickets," he said."Given the way Courtney has bowled me, once I keep concentrating and putting the ball in the right area, I should get that quite easily."